“I am here to change and make policy…. I am here to correct and calibrate your moral compasses to true north,” Christopher Dorner writes. He’s the most famous man in Southern California right now. As I type this, he has not been captured. The LAPD has warned us that they will not respond to small calls — like barking dog complaints or domestic abuse — because all their personnel are guarding police stations or hunting down the sensational cop killer.

I’d like to have a sophisticated conversation about this wild LAPD police-hunt carried out by Navy Reservist and former LAPD officer, Christopher Dorner.

Instead of labeling him a cop killer (which he is), and simply demonizing him for his violence, let’s take a look at the very serious message he’s sending. Instead of falling into the American media trap of villain versus hero, and then choosing a side, we, as adults, should be able to hold multiple perspectives in mind, including one of a man who’s been driven to the edge by a corrupt and racist police department.

Christopher Dorner has been pushed so far, and has lost so much in his life, that he bluntly states he cares not about death. He’s ready for it. Judging by his actions, he means it. He’s embraced death. But he’s not crazy. I read his letter. It’s not nuts.

Dorner seems to be a man who was raised with a strong system of ethics — a system that stands against lying, cheating, and racism. Most of Dorner’s woes come from a female officer who beat a mentally ill person who, in handcuffs, was on the ground and helpless.

Dorner reported the actions to his superiors, only to get his name dragged through the mud and be charged with making false claims. He was eventually kicked off the force — he was in the process of being terminated. He describes a police department that has not changed since the Mark Furhman days. He writes that the LAPD is as racist as it was the day they beat the living shit out of Rodney King — in fact, one of the offending officers has become a commanding officer, and still serves on the police force.

photo by Jeff Costlow

Dorner writes of crossing “the Blue Line” — a term for fellow police cronyism. A policy where officers stand up for other officers, no matter what kind of lie must be told. Is this not as frightening and worthy of news coverage as Dorner’s killing spree?

As a resident of Los Angeles, I’m terrified of the LAPD. How little voice the individual has if assaulted or mistreated by an officer who takes out his or her anger on you. You will get no support, partly because upstanding officers like Dorner, who call out the corruption where they see it, are chastised and cast out.

What are we to do? The Huffington Post, in similar fashion to other news outlets, call Dorner’s letter “rambling”, as if for some reason it’s not important or extremely valuable in exposing fraud and high-level corruption in one of America’s largest police forces.

Can we, as Americans, still have a mature conversation about Dorner’s claims, without resorting labeling those who do as supportive of a cop murderer? The media does such a great job ignoring the enormous issue Dorner very clearly and factually and specifically lays out. Instead, they stick to one line of dialogue: cop killer. Disgusting cop killer.

It is disgusting. Dorner knows it is, yet he’s doing it. He knows the LAPD will kill him and his revelations will probably go unheeded, unheard, and disperse as easily as Dorner’s impending final breath.

I don’t believe in killing. I would never willfully hurt another person. But we, as a society, must seriously pay attention to Dorner’s claims. To write off his manifesto is almost as barbaric as his last-resort killing spree. The man, only 32 years old, has lost everything — his reputation, his income, his good standing with the Navy and LAPD, and his family, because he repeatedly spoke out about departmental racism, corruption, and excessive force against citizens who couldn’t protect themselves.

Desperate men do desperate things. You don’t have to agree or support desperate actions to fairly analyze the argument and ponder solutions to what is a major national issue that involves the very people we hire to protect us.